"I thought they would play me off [stage]," Glenn Weiss, who won the prize for outstanding directing of a variety special, told Inside Edition about the moment.

Jaws dropped across the Microsoft Theater in downtown Los Angeles Monday as Weiss popped the question while accepting his award for his work with this year's Academy Awards.

"You wonder why I don't call you my girlfriend? It's because I want to call you my wife," he told his now-fiancee, Jan Svendsen. She gasped, then rushed on stage, where Weiss got down on one knee.

"This is the ring my dad put on my mom's finger 65 years ago," he continued, holding it up. "I want to put this ring that my mom wore on your finger in front of all these people ... will you marry me?"

Svendsen told Inside Edition she had no idea the proposal was coming. "It was quite a surprise," she said.

Backstage, Weiss was asked what he would have done if he hadn't won.

"Wait until next year?" he quipped, before adding that his backup plan was to propose at In-N-Out Burger.

Not everyone was a fan of such a public display of affection, however.

As "The Americans" star Matthew Rhys accepted his own award for lead actor in a drama, he showed his gratitude for girlfriend and co-star Keri Russell.

"She said, 'If you propose to me, I’ll punch you clean in the mouth.' I don’t have the words, or the time, neither of which would do you justice, Keri Lynn, except thank you," he said.